Josh Herzer Dr. Despain The American West 13 October 2017 Academic Book Review: Colin G. Calloway’s “One Vast Winter Count” Calloway, Colin G, One Vast Winter Count: The Native American West before Lewis & Clark, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 2003.
The book The Boys of Winter by Wayne Coffey tells a story about the 1980’s Olympic semi-finals between the U.S.A hockey team and the Russian hockey team. Since the 1960’s team Russia has dominated Olympic hockey. They set an example of how to play the game like, only taking wrist shots, because why risk breaking your stick or getting a splinter with a slap shot. The Russians had no doubt that they would win. But coach Brooks, the coach of the Americans had the game all planned out with trick plays and players playing different positions to mess with the Russians.
Hatchet, and later on its five sequels, is one of the best known survival and wilderness books ever published, and is based somewhere in Northern Canada. It features Canadian Geography and wilderness as one of its main themes, and uses them both as a setting and a source of challenge for the main character. Gary Paulsen, the author, worked in Canadian wilderness for years before writing the book, and did a fantastic job at capturing just how bewildering and terrifying Canada can be while still being breathtakingly beautiful. The main character, Brian, becomes quite attached to this area where he’s stranded, and talks about how it changes him and his personality completely. It alters his view on life and the way he looks at himself as a person.
Now Brian is forced to fly the plane and crashes in some lake then swims and saves himself. He may not be picked up that day or any day so it leaves brian alone to survive and live on his own. He is not prepared for anything like this and does not know how to survive in the wilderness. Which will change his life forever. I found that all in the text that he has crashed and has already been the first day of the crash.
The main character is introduced while on his way to an airport where he will take a flight to go visit his father for the summer. The first insight into Brian’s personality is his abhorrent thoughts toward his mother: “Divorce. It was an ugly word, he thought. A tearing, ugly word that meant fights and yelling, lawyers…” (Paulsen 3).
The book I choice to read was, “Brian’s Winter”, by Gary Paulsen. This book is about Brian after the private plane he was flying in crashes in to the rugged forests of Canada. Brian went through many struggles while trying the best he could to survive in the harsh environment. Some of the biggest events in this story include when he is attacked by a bear, during the major storms and some of his questionable encounters with the wolves. If I were telling a friend about the entire story in two minutes I would say, Brian’s parents were divorced leading him to visit his father for the first time in a long time.
I explains about Brian surviving a plane crash and having to survive alone in the woods by himself. He forgets he has a hatchet his mother gave to him before he left. As the students read on, the author writes the difficulties he has while surviving. Brian changes over time since he is a city
Throughout the short story “Snow” by Julia Alvarez, the literary devices of imagery and diction contribute to the overall theme that immigrating into a new environment can be a fearful experience. In paragraph three, Yolanda explains that while at her new school, they would perform air raid drills, leaving her imagination to picture the worst-case scenarios she learned about. We see this when she says that she would, “imagine our hair falling out, the bones in our arms going soft.” This shows that procedures and lessons Yolanda never had to learn or do before immigrating to the U.S. have a significant impact on the way she views everyday life, from living in an innocent world to one that is out to hurt her.
Brian 's Winter is a book about survival to be specific the survival of Brian the main character of Hatchet and the main character of this book to. Themes of this story are loneliness , ancient people , and survival. Books like this are interesting to read they keep you wondering how he is going to make it what will he do next to be able to survive will he get rescued. These are a few questions you will keep asking yourself while you read this book. At the end of the book Brian finally gets rescued it is worth it.
In James Whitcomb Riley’s poem “When the Frost is on the Punkin”, he explains in detail what his speaker loves about fall mornings. From this poem, we can tell that the speaker likes the crispness of the air, the sun, and the colors of a beautiful fall morning. The speaker likes the cool air of autumn. The poem states, “When the heat of summer’s over and the coolin’ fall is here.” By expressing this line, he shows us that he is ready for the cool air of autumn after a hot summer.
The book Hatchet was full of adventure around every corner. There is not a moment in the entire book where you’re not held in suspense or on the edge of your seat wonder what might happen to Brian, the main character. It is a book about both a self conflict, and a battle against nature for the survival of the fittest. This story starts off holding you in suspense, Brian is a city boy that is going through a hard time because he knows “The Secret” that his dad doesn’t know, so it’s causing a divorce. Now you want to know what the secret is and how it managed to cause an entire divorce.
Over the last couple of days in class we have discussed F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story “Winter Dreams”. This short story explores several themes such as reality vs idealism and over expectations. These themes communicates through the use of various literary devices such as irony, symbolism, allegories and imagery. Through the use of these literary devices each character is brought to life and given its own type of personality. One quote that explores how the main character, Dexter, is given a unique personality states “The helpless ecstasy of losing himself in her charm was a powerful opiate rather than a tonic”.
Most people remember fondly of childhood, as childhood is an innocent and carefree time. Yet childhood may be a lonely memory for others, as not everyone had the fortune of a loving household. In the essay “Let it Snow” by David Sedaris, the author looks back at his childhood and tells of a winter day. Sedaris does not directly say it, but through his words, one can infer that he grew up in a detached family. He describes the behavior of his mother, and it is obvious that there is something more than what is shown.
“Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.” The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls has very important life lessons that will teach you to laugh at your tragedies sometimes. The most important lessons are that struggle makes you unique, you either sink or swim, and sometimes crisis makes you realize your potential. In the memoir, you will learn these and accept them.
“Winter Dreams” was published in 1926. Francis Scott Fitzgerald is most well-known for his novel “The Great Gatsby”. A common theme he is known for is the American dream and how it is corrupt. Fitzgerald enjoys writing about the poor boy chasing after the rich girl. This story is about a man named Dexter Green trying to achieve the American dream by obtaining the girl he adores.
